Slow Design Manifesto

I believe in this - thanks gavin, for the share: via nineteenthirtyfour

Designer Callie Neylan was fed up, like me, with deadlines too soon, designing too fast for clients too unhappy. The question "why can't you design any faster?" really weighs on me. And, as Callie says, heaven forbid they pay you what you deserve, or what you ask for....

She has taken the Slow Food Movement from Italy and modified it for Slow Design. Enjoy:

01 Our forefathers of design, who first designed under the tenets of modernism and in response to an increasingly fast-paced world, nevertheless spent years of slow, careful consideration perfecting and codifying the design disciplines we know today: architecture, industrial design, graphic design, and today, interaction design.

02 With the advent of the information age, we are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Design, which disrupts our vision, pervades the aesthetics of our workplaces and homes and forces us to look at ugly things.

03 A firm defense of good, well-thought out design and opposition to cheap templates, bad typography, malignant form, easy solutions, and unappreciative clients is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Design.

04 May suitable doses of guaranteed visual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment resulting from a slowly-designed, well-designed thing preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

05 Our defense should begin in the studios and design schools with Slow Design. Let us rediscover the fruits of thoughtful concepting, adequate rounds of revisions, and respect for our discipline and banish the degrading effects of Fast Design.

06 In the name of productivity, Fast Design has changed our way of looking and threatens our user experiences and visual literacy. So Slow Design is now the only truly progressive answer.

07 That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects (are you with me, fellow Good Designers)?

08 Slow Design guarantees more beautiful, pleasurable, useful communication and objects.

So amazing.... with a Massimo Vignelli quote at the end: “The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness.”

On to some more very slow, careful design.

It's time to get real

Maybe if I start writing all my goals on my blog I will actually accomplish some of them.
Has anyone had any success in this?
I don't mean to be negative, there are just so many things I want to do....
Read 5 books before the end of the summer.
Finish recovering my chair.
Plant flowers in my pots.
Watch the godfather.
Lose 10 lbs.
Get my Crohn's Disease under control.
Start selling things on ebay/amazon.

Perhaps I should pat myself on the back for some of the things I have accomplished:
1. I recently got to go on a research business trip with my design team, it was tiring, but enlightening.
2. Jared and I have been harvesting some of our garden, which is overflowing with greens - anyone want some arugula? Yellow Pear heirloom maters?
3. We finally finished refinishing our table - it took almost 1 whole year, but mostly because there was an 8-9 month sabbatical from refinishing during the winter. You should come and see it.
4. I finally sent in my camera to get it repaired. Now I will be able to share images - now that the garden is completely grown....  : /
5. Our chair is getting recovered... it's still in the process, but I think I'm going to work on it tomorrow, or maybe even tonight!
6. I am halfway done writing our thank you notes for our wedding - our one year mark is fast approaching. I hope to have them all done by then.
7. A site I designed finally went up - it is for a custom home building site for a construction management firm in Kansas City. You can view it here.
8. I have lost 5-7 lbs.  - we may be able to attribute this to catching a summer cold, however.
9. We finally got our settlement for my injury on my hand and will be using a lot of it to pay off all our credit card debts - YAY!
10. I am starting to do research for a new business idea with my friends from Picture This! Fun fun fun - I love interaction design!

Have a great day - and pat yourself on the back for something you did.

micromanagement

Sometimes I get itchy when this happens.